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Payoff: Top Manipuri Role Models

Image: Anonymous ART of Revolution

If we have to sum up Manipur in two words, we can try violence and corruption. One, we have the mindless killing perpetuated by the state, non-state actors and the trigger-happy thugs who are harassing the public under the disguise of son-of-the-soil stinking masks. Two, the rampant looting of the public exchequer and from the masses, who are so used to giving and taking the easy money, is disgustingly filthy, for the want of a better expression.

This post is a news collection of the second case on corruption, which has been institutionalised, much to the delight of the many souls who would not mind selling off their husbands and wives to get extra freebies. It is beyond comprehension, however, what is more intolerable is the conduct of the people, especially those who are in the higher echelons of the government departments, even after they are charged for graft. A couple of months ago, the director (read Sinam Fuck Sekharjit Off) of a premier medical institute (Regional Institute of Medical Science or RIMS) was demoted on bribery and other charges but he clung to his chair as if the post was his birthright. Then, in the funniest act that can give Russell Peters and his co. a run for their money, Sekharjit’s wife—who is also like a Bonnie Parker of the Bonnie & Clyde fame—organised a street demonstration. So, consider the other kings and queens of their own kingdoms, who are still looting and laughing all the way to their banks, while nobody raises a finger because they are so powerful in the shithole. You know what this type of people is called? The leather-faces-who-should-kill-themselves-and-make-this-world-lesser-vile people. Would they bribe me to stop calling them names?

Bonnie & Clyde of a shitholeImage: Twitter

When we consider the trend in our vicinity, it is no surprise how and why these people survive in our world. Read And the Most Prestigious Award Goes to. Not only the natives, but people who are posted here, have been consumed by the disease. Don’t be surprised to find that it is not the bureaucrats as the case always tends to be, but rather the patriots who can kill and die in the name of the ill-defined country. Read The Rot In The Assam Rifles on Tehelka.

Here’s a list of role models for the future directors and respected government officials

• Dr. Sekharjit paid Rs. 4 crores to the personal assistant of the then Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for his appointment as RIMS director
• Sekharjit’s wife Dr Damayanti wrote a letter to the BJP state unit president (Th Chaoba) demanding the refund of Rs. 1 crore which was taken by BJP state unit president to forestall any impeachment move against Sekharjit
• Sekharjit recruited 121 nurses against 71 sanctioned and advertised posts. The bribe fee was said to have hovered around Rs 15 lakh each for the first 71 and Rs 25 lakh apiece for the remaining 40. And although he tried to get post facto sanction for the 40 seats from the executive council, he failed but they continue to be on the rolls and received salaries till date.
• He also decreased the retirement age of the heads of departments from 65 to 62 years to enable his wife to head the department of anatomy.
• When the nursing college was established, he appointed her (his wife Damayanti) principal and when protests arose he made her the advisor of the college, overriding the principal.
• Sekharjit and his family treated 47 men and women hired as daily wage workers who were being paid a paltry Rs 3,000 a month. The women were utilised by his wife as domestic help and have not been paid for the last five months while their salaries had been withdrawn. And often it was his wife, referred to as “Madam”, who would dole out their salaries at her residence — not in cash but in the form of Amway products for which she is today a platinum card holder agent.

Original source Yambem Laba reports on the goings-on at the RIMS, Imphal, which resulted in the bombshell dropped by the centre: Beyond the Oath, The Statesman

Less than two months ago, N. Bijoy Singh was sharing the platform with the Prime Minister. Today the vice-chancellor of Manipur University is lying in hospital, his left knee cap shot to smithereens by an outlawed outfit which has accused him of favouritism in appointing an employee. RK Ranjan Singh, the registrar of the varsity that was upgraded to a Central University by the pm in November, has suffered a similar fate. The two were abducted at gunpoint on Monday by militants of the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) from the outskirts of Imphal. The KYKL then took a team of journalists to an undisclosed location and paraded the officials, who then confessed to their crime. Later, Singh and Ranjan were “punished” with shots in their legs. “The two were punished as part of our special operation to cleanse the education system of corruption,” a KYKL leader said.

May 2008 An education department official, Y Joykumar, is shot at and wounded by militants for his alleged involvement in corrupt practices. He was abducted from near his residence at Thongju area in the Imphal East district. The KYKL claimed responsibility for the attack.

September 2007 An unnamed official of the State Education department is shot at and wounded by the KYKL militants at an unspecified place in the Bishnupur district. He was attacked for his alleged involvement in fake appointment of teachers and corruption. The outfit had also asked the official to take voluntary retirement and return the misappropriated amount.

September 2007 An officer of the State Education Department, T. Geetchandra Sharma, is shot at and wounded by KYKL militants for his alleged involvement in covering up fake appointment of teachers and taking bribes. Another official of the same department, T. Samananda Singh, is also ‘accused’ by the militants for his involvement in the scandal. Sharma and Singh are charged with taking bribes totaling INR 15 lakhs and INR 20 lakhs respectively.

August 2007 Unidentified KYKL cadres shot at and injured a civilian, Phurailatpam Nandakumar, joint secretary of the Board of Secondary Education, who is currently under suspension in several irregularities, at Mayang Imphal Konchak in the Imphal West district. Nandakumar was abducted by unidentified persons two days back.

October 2006 Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) warned an officer of the State Education Department, S Geeta, of ‘capital punishment’ in case of her failure to ‘surrender’ to the outfit within seven days, S Geeta along with another official, S.Shamu President of AMESTA, are allegedly involved in siphoning off huge amount of funds meant for mid-day meal scheme.

December 2005 Deputy Inspector in the Education Department of Imphal East district, Sanasam Biren Singh, is paraded and shot at his left calf as ‘punishment for alleged corruption’ by the KYKL under its anti-corruption programme Operation New Kangleipak.

June 2005 A senior accountant and an official of the Manipur education department are kneecapped by the KYKL at an unspecified place. Both the persons have earlier been ‘charged of’ siphoning Rupees 20 lakhs each from the departmental funds and are ‘set free’ by the outfit after shooting them on their legs.

May 2005 Three Education Department officials are kneecapped by the outlawed KYKL cadres at an unspecified place in the Churachandpur district accusing them of corruption of Manipur. According to reports, the three officials who had surrendered to the outfit earlier were paraded before a media team and then shot in their legs. Further, 49 teachers, allegedly appointed through corrupt means, were also paraded by the outfit and asked not to serve in the Education Department in future.

February 2005 KYKL has paraded two zonal education officers, Athokpam Shamu and Moirangthem Sanatombi Singh, before the media and pronounced them ‘guilty of corruption’. Both are asked by the outfit to resign from their posts.

In a September 2006 confidential cable released by WikiLeaks, Henry Jardine, principal officer, US consulate general in Kolkata, underscored the corrupt state of affairs in Manipur.

The US official, reporting that rampant corruption was complicating the effort to control rising violence in the state, also mentioned that chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh was known as “Mr. Ten Percent”, for the amount of money that he takes from contracts and government projects.

The report said that officials and private individuals agreed that many key government officers and politicians receive kick-backs and skim-off money from government funds. Even the protocol officer facilitating Jardine’s trip had said that the government was incapable of handling the situation as all the officials were more interested in their own enrichment.

CM Okram Ibobi:
So you think I care
about your news report?Image: manipuronline.com

He said that just getting a government job required payments equivalent to several thousand dollars. On being asked by the US official as to who received the payments, the protocol officer said it was the state government ministers.

The US confidential cable said that in December 2005, chief of Army Staff J.J. Singh reportedly told the media that chief minister Singh had contributed Rs. 15 million to insurgent groups in the state.

Manipur State Youth Congress leader L. Tilottama was also quoted speaking in “hypothetical” terms about politicians’ motivations to protect insurgents, “If I take Rs. 1 crore from a businessman building a flyover, and the insurgents get a share, I want to keep quiet about it.”